Fast, Futuristic, and Fun

Rating: 8/10 (22 July 2005)

Michael Bay has a history of making high quality action films with a good solid plot an underlying love story. This movie delivers. Ewan Mcgregor and Scarlet Johansson play two people who live in a seemingly perfect place and who long to win the mysterious lottery. Those who win the lottery get to go to 'The Island' which is the last place on Earth that was not affected by the great contamination many years ago. Lincoln Six Echo (Ewan Mcgregor) starts to question his existence and that of his fellows in this seemingly perfect world, and uncovers the chilling truth. They are all clones who are used as insurance policies for the rich who are willing to pay the price to cheat death. This discovery leads him to take action which involves lots of running and explosions. All of the action and chase sequences were fast paced but never typical. Superb cinematography and a riveting score help keep these scenes from being just another action flick. Michael Bay satisfies his fetish for crushing cars and urban destruction stylishly in a futuristic Los Angeles setting. The underlying love story was more innocent and light-hearted that that of his past films. The reason this film did not rank a perfect ten was because of it's inconsistencies in the setting. It just wasn't as believable as I was hoping. The cars all looked and sounded the same as they do today and all of the women were cookie cutter super models. It simply didn't take itself seriously in all aspects. All of that aside it was well acted, well scripted and was a lot of fun to watch. I would recommend it to anyone in for a good adrenaline rush without the monotony and goofy jokes of this summer's Mr. and Mrs. Smith. The story was solid and the acting was great...definitely one of this summer's must see films.